MADMAN ACROSS THE WATER (1971)
Tiny Dancer
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Blue-jean baby,
L.A. lady, seamstress for the band,
Pretty-eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man.
Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand,
And now she's in me, always with me, Tiny Dancer in my hand.
Jesus freaks
Out in the streets
Handing tickets out for God;
Turning back she just laughs,
The boulevard is not that bad.
Piano man
He makes his stand
In the auditorium;
Looking on
She sings the songs,
The words she knows,
The tune she hums
But oh,
How it feels so real lying here
With no one near,
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly --
Hold me closer, Tiny Dancer
Count the headlights
On the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen,
you had a busy day today.
Levon
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Levon wears his war-wound like a crown,
He calls his child Jesus 'cause he likes the name
And he sends him to the finest school in town.
Levon, Levon likes his money,
He makes a lot they say;
Spend his days counting
In a garage by the motorway.
He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day,
When the New York Times
Said, "God is dead, and war's begun,
And Alvin Tostig has a son today."
And he shall be Levon,
And he shall be
A good man,
And he shall be
Levon,
In tradition with
The family plan,
And he shall be
Levon,
And he shall
Be a good man,
He shall be
Levon.
Levon sells cartoon balloons in town,
His family business thrives.
Jesus blows up balloons all day,
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly,
And Jesus, he wants to go to Venus,
Leaving Levon far behind;
Take a balloon,
And go sailing,
While Levon -
Levon
Slowly
Dies.
Razor Face
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Has anybody here seen Razor Face?
Heard he's back lookin' for a place to lay down;
Must be getting on,
Needs a man who's young to walk him round,
Needs a man who's young to walk him round.
Oh, it must be hard for the likes of you
To get by in a world that you just can't see through,
And it looks so cold.
How does it feel to know you can't go home?
How does it feel to know you can't go home?
Come on, Razor Face, my old friend,
I'll meet you down by the truck stop inn
With a bottle of booze in the back of my car,
You're a song on the lips of an aging star.
Razor Face, amazing grace
Protects you like a glove
And I'll never learn the reason why
I love your Razor Face.
Madman Across The Water
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
I can see very well,
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well;
There's a joke and I know it very well,
It's one of those that I told you long ago,
Take my word, I'm a madman, don't you know?
Once a fool had a good part in the play,
If it's so, would I still be here today?
It's quite peculiar in a funny sort of way,
They think it's very funny everything I say;
Get a load of him, he's so insane,
You better get your coat, dear,
It looks like rain.
We'll come again next Thursday afternoon,
The in-laws hope they'll see you very soon;
But is it in your conscience that you're after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water?
I can see very well,
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well;
There's a joke and I know it very well,
It's one of those that I told you long ago,
Take my word I'm a madman, don't you know?
We'll come again next Thursday afternoon,
The in-laws hope they'll see you very soon;
But is it in your conscience that you're after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water?
The ground's a long way down but I need more,
Is the nightmare black
Or are the windows painted?
Will they come again next week -
Can my mind really take it?
Indian Sunset
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
As I awoke this evening, with the smell of wood smoke clinging
Like a gentle cobweb hanging upon a painted tepee;
Oh, I went to see my chieftain with my war-lance and my woman,
For he told us that the yellow moon would very soon be leaving.
This I can't believe, I said, I can't believe our Warlord's dead,
Oh, he would not leave the chosen ones to the buzzards and the soldiers' guns.
Oh, great father of the Iroquois, ever since I was young I've
Read the writings of the smoke, and breast-fed on the sound of drums.
I've learned to hurl the tomahawk and ride a painted pony wild,
To run the gauntlet of the Sioux, to make a chieftain's daughter mine.
And now you ask that I should watch the red man's race be slowly crushed;
What kind of words are these to hear from Yellow Dog whom white man fears?
I take only what is mine, Lord, my pony, my squaw and my child,
I can't stay to see you die along with my tribe's pride.
I go to search for the yellow moon and the fathers of our sons
Where the red sun sinks in the hills of gold and the healing waters run.
Trampling down the prairie rose, leaving hoof tracks in the sand,
Those who wish to follow me I welcome with my hands.
I heard from passing renegades Geronimo was dead, he'd been
Laying down his weapons when they filled him full of lead.
Now there seems no reason why I should carry on in this land
That once was my land, I can't find a home.
It's lonely and it's quiet and the horse soldiers are coming
And I think it's time I strung my bow and ceased my senseless running.
For soon I'll find the yellow moon along with my loved ones,
Where the buffalos graze in clover fields without the sound of guns.
And the red sun sinks at last into the hills of gold, and
Peace to this young warrior comes with a bullet hole.
Holiday Inn
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
Boston at last,
And the plane's touching down.
Our hostess is handing
The hot towels around.
From a terminal gate
To a black limousine,
It's a ten-minute ride
To the Holiday Inn.
Boredom's a pastime
That one soon acquired,
Where you get to the stage
Where you're not even tired;
Kicking your heels
Till the time comes around
To pick up your bags
And head out of town.
Slow down, Joe,
I'm a rock-'n'-roll man,
I've twiddled my thumbs
In a dozen-odd bands;
And you ain't seen nothing
Until you've been in
A motel, baby,
Like the Holiday Inn.
Rotten Peaches
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
We've moved on six miles from where we were yesterday,
And yesterday is but a long, long ways away;
So we'll camp out tonight beneath the bright starlight,
And forget rotten peaches and the places we've stayed.
I left from the dockland two years ago now,
Made my way over on the S.S. Marie
And I've always had trouble wherever I've settled -
Rotten peaches are all that I see.
Rotten peaches rotting in the sun,
Seems I've seen that devil fruit since the world begun,
Mercy, I'm a criminal, Jesus, I'm the one -
Rotten peaches rotting in the sun.
There ain't no green grass in a U.S. state prison,
There is no one to hold when you're sick for your wife;
And each day out you'll pick, you'll pick rotten peaches,
You'll pick rotten peaches for the rest of your life.
Oh, I've had me fill of cocaine and pills,
For I lie in the light of the Lord,
And my home is ten thousand, ten thousand miles away,
And I guess I won't see it no more.
Rotten peaches rotting in the sun,
Seems I've seen that devil fruit since the world begun,
Mercy, I'm a criminal, Jesus, I'm the one -
Rotten peaches rotting in the sun.
All The Nasties
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
If it came to pass
That they should ask,
What could I tell them?
Would they criticize
Behind my back?
Maybe I should let them.
Oh, if only then, and only then
They would understand,
They'd turn
A full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man.
If they could face it,
I could take it,
In their eyes
I know I'd make it.
Their tiny minds
And sacred cows just fake it.
If only then, and only then
They would understand,
They'd turn
A full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man.
But I know the way
They want me,
In the way they publicize.
If they could turn
Their focus off
To the image in their eyes,
Maybe it would help them,
Help them understand
That a full-blooded city boy
Is now a full-blooded city man.
Goodbye
(Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
And now that it's all over
The birds can nest again.
I'll only snow when the sun comes out,
I'll shine only when it starts to rain.
And if you want a drink,
Just squeeze my hand, and wine will flow into the land
And feed my lambs.
For I am a mirror,
I can reflect the moon,
I will write songs for you,
I'll be your silver spoon.
I'm sorry I took your time,
I am the poem that doesn't rhyme.
Just turn back a page,
I'll waste away -
I'll waste away -
I'll waste away.